Poem: CANTICLE

“...music puts our being as men and women in touch with that which transcends the sayable, which outstrips the analysable.” — George Steiner, Real Presences

Explain the flight of the Great Blue Heron
not in terms of aerodynamics
but in relation to morning fog --to rippling lake
Imagine a dove descending & a voice from heaven
proof only to those who need none

Think how a string quartet says so much
like waves on the Lake Manitou shore
matching the music of rooftop rain
in our waking minds --like David’s harp
soothing Saul’s madness

Mythology weaves a song so beautiful
sailors forget themselves
forget to eat --forget they’re vulnerable
on rocks --Unimaginable
to those who’ve not felt it

Sing your jealousy to a nightingale
of her oblivion of weariness
fading into night
Sing your envy to a waterfowl
of her wise way on the pathless coast

Follow the flight of ravens to Kerith
where Elijah drinks from the brook
until it sinks in sand
like a half-remembered melody
fading in time

(This poem first appeared in Perspectives)